The twelfth season of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'' aired on

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

from September 29, 2013, to May 18, 2014. The series follows the

Griffin family The Griffin family is a fictional family and main characters in the animated television series ''Family Guy'', and who also appear in ''The Cleveland Show''. The Griffins are a dysfunctional family consisting of the married couple Peter and Loi ...

, a

dysfunctional family In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

consisting of father

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

, mother

Lois Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...

, daughter Meg, son

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

, baby Stewie, and the family dog

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

, who reside in their hometown of

Quahog The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince ...

. During this season, Peter gets a vestigial twin (" Vestigial Peter"); the Griffins travel to Italy (" Boopa-dee Bappa-dee"); Quagmire and Peter form a folk band (" Into Harmony's Way"); and, as confirmed by series creator

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

moves back to Quahog along with his family, since ''

The Cleveland Show ''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry (voice actor), Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Family Guy'', and the second television ...

'' was cancelled (" He's Bla-ack!"). Also, as mentioned by

Steve Callaghan Steve Callaghan is an American screenwriter, producer and voice actor, best known for his work on ''Family Guy''. He is a graduate of the Department of Public Policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. Callaghan started his career in 1999 as ...

in the 2013 Comic-con Panel, a member of the Griffin family was killed off in a special episode. After much speculation, that member was Brian, after being hit by a motorist in the episode "

Life of Brian ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British biblical black comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michae ...

". This elicited strongly negative reactions from fans of the show, and a petition demanding Brian to be resurrected garnered over 100,000 signatures. His death turned out to be only temporary as in the episode " Christmas Guy", Stewie goes back in time and saves him, effectively changing the future so that he never dies. The show was initially airing in its usual timeslot of 9:00 PM Eastern. Beginning on March 9 and continuing for the rest of the season, ''Family Guy'' moved to 8:30 PM Eastern; the move came as a result of the addition of '' Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey'' to the network's lineup. Guest stars for the season include

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...

Lea Thompson Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress, singer, dancer and director. She is best known for her roles as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990), Beverly Switzler in ''Howard t ...

Jeff Daniels Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor. He is known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accolades, including two Primetime ...

Michelle Dockery Michelle Suzanne Dockery (born 15 December 1981) is an English actress. She is best known for starring as List of Downton Abbey characters#Lady Mary Talbot, Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV (TV network), ITV television period drama series ''Downton ...

Tony Sirico Genaro Anthony Sirico Jr. (; July 24, 1942 – July 8, 2022) was an American actor. Often cast as a mobster, he portrayed Paulie Gualtieri in ''The Sopranos''. Born in Brooklyn to an Italian-American family, Sirico had a tumultuous early life ...

Yvette Nicole Brown Yvette Nicole Brown (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom ''Community'', as Dani in the 2015 reboot of '' The Odd Couple'' on CBS, and as Dina Rose on the ABC sitcom '' The Mayor''. Br ...

Gary Cole Gary Michael Cole (born September 20, 1956) is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series '' M ...

Lauren Bacall Betty Joan Perske (September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014), professionally known as Lauren Bacall ( ), was an American actress. She was named the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the America ...

Liam Neeson William John Neeson (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Liam Neeson, several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, BAFT ...

Bryan Cranston Bryan Lee Cranston (born March 7, 1956) is an American actor. After taking minor roles in television, he established himself as a leading actor in both comedic and dramatic Bryan Cranston filmography, works on stage and screen. He has received ...

Adam Levine Adam Noah Levine ( ; born March 18, 1979) is an American musician who is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and sole continuous member of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, for ...

, and

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Regarded as a pop icon and an influential figure in popular music, Grande is known for her four-octave vocal range, which extends into the whistle re ...

. This is the last season to be secondarily composed by Ron Jones, leaving

Walter Murphy Walter Anthony Murphy Jr. (born December 19, 1952) is an American composer, keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for the instrumental " A Fifth of Beethoven", a disco adaptation of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony which topp ...

in charge of the musical score for the rest of the series.

Marketing

At San Diego Comic Con 2013, It was revealed by showrunner

that one member of the Griffin Family would be killed off. Though many assumed to be Meg Griffin, the cast remained silent. This would later be revealed, with Brian Griffin being killed off. In addition, a preview was released. It was also revealed that a crossover episode with

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

was in the works, which released in September 2014, titled The Simpsons Guy. The cover depicts the five members near the grave of Brian Griffin.

Episodes

Reception

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Family Guy Season 12 Family Guy seasons 2013 American animated television seasons 2014 American animated television seasons